ARE YOU A FLAT EARTHER?
Are you a Flat Earther? Of course, you are.
I am not saying you actually believe that the Earth is flat, but TJAT the logic you apply to perceptions of the world around you and your life, are not different from that of people in the Middle Ages who believed a lot of things that science now tells us are delusional: like the sun revolving around the Earth and witches causing the Plague and needing to be burned.
Everyone used to be a literal Flat Earther. And the assumptions that generated this false believe appeared self-evidently axiomatic.
The logic of false belief systems is pretty simple.
Herd Logic:
Everyone believes this, so do I .
Zetetic logic
Simple observation, the flat horizon, the sun’s “movement” through the sky, proves the earth is flat and sun revolves around the earth. Of course, zetetic logic — which depends on observation — is the basis of all science. But in the case of science, we must test observation and look for contradictions. Zetetic logic is always ‘circumstantial” and must be proven (or disproven) through counterargument that offers other possibilities. Science succeeds through skepticism.
Argument by authority
If people in power, who are ‘educated’ believe something, many people fall in line just as we did as students in school. In the Middle Ages we had the Church. and Priests. Today we have Harvard and PhDs. The Church forced Galileo to recant his heretical theories. Today, Academia and the media keep us in line. So Stephen Pinker of Harvard became a very rich man with his nine books on human nature, none of which have any scientific credibility, and all of which, except one, are written outside his field of study. He is an “authority”.
Who fucking cares.
Who fucking cares logic is simple. Given the previous 3 behaviors it amounts to “If it doesn’t affect me personally, and there are contradictions — “Who fucking cares?”
Today, people know that the world is round because everyone else thinks — so and they can just get on an airplane and go around the world. There are also all those photos from space. Also, we learned this in high school! So logics 1 through 3 still apply, just with a more realistic result. We take the Globe as a given — and, anyway, who fucking cares. Our belief is correct but not based on the science, but on uncritical belief.
Most people just believe what everyone else does: they do not try to disprove their own beliefs. Yet science has shown us that we can certain about nothing — unless it is doubted and tested.
As i have said, that puts almost everyone today and medieval Flat Earthers on the same level.
This is sad and also dangerous. In Hitler’s Germany, nice middle class people thought that the Jews and Slavs were vermin. Not human at all. And doing all sorts of evil things.
Americans are not immune. And their beliefs are killed some 20 to 30 million men, women, and children since WWII.
The Modern American Flat Earther is a “true believer”.
America is a democracy
America is a free country
America is a force for “good”
The world needs America
America is governed by the Rule of Law
America believes in Justice
The Union of States in the US of A is beneficial to all.
Americans and America are exception.
Each of these beliefs has the same degree of evidential credibility as the Flat Earth Argument or Hitler’s vilification of the Jews and Slavs. Indeed, American exceptionalism is no different logically from Hitler’s notion that the Aryan “race” was “exceptional” — superior.
Americans pile delusions on top of illusions.
Most white, middle class Americans think they live in a democracy. They think they are “free”. That they have choice. Therefore America is free, and democratic. If you are poor and black, however, you are going to be less certain. Now, the idea of America as free and democratic is presented by modern “Authority”, our government of millionaires, their billionaire overlords, and the media although a skeptical view reveals that we live in an inverted authoritarian state, ruled by an oligarchy. If you are poor or black, the contradictions become more obvious every time you see a policeman. In this case, perception provides the basis for skepticism through the disparity of what “authority” says and what we actually happens. The fact is that America is not and never was a democracy and its constitution is set up to perpetuate a pernicious form of neo-feudalism.
So, continue basing your worldview on high school social studies lessons and the pronouncements of CNN, MSN, MSNBC, NPR, WaPo, the NYT, and the BBC. You will have no grand children. Your children may well die before they can have children, as the Climate, disease, and social disorder destroy the US of A.
